September 30, 2007
So it seems the scam from back east has made it's way to the west coast. Aquarian Associates of Pittsburgh, in the guise of the "Great American Model and Talent Search" sent my wife and I a postcard for an open casting call in San Francisco and Oakland being held the weekend of Sept 22nd and 23rd 2007. So we took our daughter to the open call in SF and waited for her turn in front of the camera. At the open call they requested you fill out an envelope with your name and address on it to be used if they saw an opportunity to place your child. A few days after the open call we received the envelope we had addressed and it contained an invitation to another meeting. The fishy thing about this meeting is that only the parents are invited! After reading that no kids were allowed to come I started getting suspicious. I turned to my favorite source of information (Google), and sure enough came across several articles about this modeling scam including these, Shady Modeling Company, Parents: Be Wary of Supposed Model Searches. Needless to say we will not be attending the "parents only" information meeting and we will not be handing Aquarian Associates or the Great American Model and Talent Search any money whatsoever.
If you get a postcard for a free open call from Great American Model and Talent Search or Aquarian Associates, just toss it!
-DB
You can contact me here with questions or comments.
October 1st, 2007
Well the hits keep on coming for the Great American Model and Talent Search scam! It turns out that Samuel J. Manfredi and his wife, Marilyn T. Manfredi, who own Aquarian Associates are being charged with tax evasion. What astounds me is that as they were being charged we were at their open call in San Francisco! Read the article from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review about the tax cheating owners of Aquarian Associates.